26 June: International Day in Support of Victims of torture, recognized by the UN:

International Day in Support of Victims of torture, recognized by the UN:

Nairobi,Sunatimes- On June 26, 1987, the Convention against Torture came into force. It was an important step in the process of globalizing human rights and acknowledging that torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment should be universally illegal. In 1997 the United Nations General Assembly decided to mark this historic date and designated June 26 each year as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

The first International Day in Support of Victims of Torture was held on June 26, 1998. It was a day when the United Nations appealed to all governments and members of civil society to take action to defeat torture and torturers everywhere. That same year marked the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

In 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse. Focusing on the Somali matter at least a quarter of the small aircraft fleet operating from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport is thought to depend on contracts to transport the plant, which is scientifically known as Catha edulis, to Somalia at one time or another. That the shrub contains traces of powerful chemicals, Those chemicals — as well as anecdotal evidence of miraa’s long-term health and socio-economic effects — are leading health experts to question whether the shrub should continue to be sold legally, or become proscribed like other psychoactive substances such as cocaine and marijuana.

In Kenya, where khat has been legal since 1977, trade in the shrub is estimated to be worth well over $150 million, supporting tens of thousands of people in the country’s Eastern Province, as well as thousands of wholesalers and retailers in urban areas. In Ethiopia, another major khat growing country, the government has gone as far as actively promoting cultivation of the shrub, which it says is emerging as a major foreign exchange earner.

According to figures released by the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry two weeks ago, Ethiopia exported 22,390 tonnes of khat in 2007, earning the country $108 million. This makes the shrub Ethiopia’s 7th largest export after coffee and horticultural produce.
The main markets for Ethiopian khat were Somalia ($69.5 million), Djibouti ($29.6 million), Britain ($4.2 million), and Kenya ($2.6 million).
For Kenyan and Ethiopian exporters, one of the biggest blows to the trade in miraa will come if Britain’s Conservative Party wins back power from the Labour Party.

Radio Bar-kulan.

Nairobi.Kenya